Deeply-rooted, traditional Aboriginal teachings are values to live by - beliefs, practices and observances that are life-changing, says Lana Brasher, the organizer of the upcoming Indigenous Wellness Conference in Guelph.
These teachings have relevance for all people, but teaching them to First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples helps them reconnect with their ancestral heritage, to live a better life, and heal from past trauma, Brasher said.
“Traditionally, we would have grown up with roles and responsibilities,” said Brasher, aboriginal health and wellness promoter for the Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre. “With getting our spirit name, for example, comes part of our identity, who we are and what our path in life may be.”
Traditional clan systems provided models of leadership and governance, but also gave people within them roles and responsibilities. The loss of those traditions, due in large part to the residential school system, has been very detrimental to the people, Brasher indicated.
“All of these things provide us with direction in life,” she said.
Such teachings need to be imparted in a consistent way, repeated, and repeated again until a deeper level of understanding is reached, and knowledge is attained.
“I was taught that we have to hear a teaching at least four times, because there is a learning process we go through called awareness, understanding, knowledge and wisdom,” Brasher said.
Some who attend the cultural awareness conference will be at an awareness stage, hearing the teachings for the first time, while others will have been on the path of learning, the “red road,” for several years.
“When they reflect on it and hear it several times, it can then reach that level of understanding,” Brasher said. “Once you understand something it becomes knowledge. When you live and practice that, when you integrate those teachings into who you are in everyday life, you reach a wisdom stage.”
The indigenous cultural teachings conference circles around the Aboriginal concept of Mino Bimaadiziwin, or living a good life. It’s happenings from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 11, at Innovation Guelph, 111 Farquhar Street in Guelph. Everyone is welcome.
Lois MacDonald is a Missanbie Cree, originally from the Thunder Bay area, and is with Aboriginal services at Conestoga College. She will conduct a segment of the conference dedicated to teachings on the Tree of Life, and will guide participants on how to build a medicine bundle – a personal bag that holds items that have spiritual meaning for the wearer, and are representative of the person’s identity.
Mary Lou Smoke, a traditional singer and inspirational speaker will conduct a workshop entitled “decolonizing methodologies.” And Kathy Absolon-King, an Anishinaabe kwe from Flying Point First Nation, and associate professor in Wilfred Laurier University’s Aboriginal Field of Study, will share teachings about men and women.
Brasher said First Nations, Metis and Inuit people need their traditional teachings to help them live a good life. On average, aboriginal people have poorer health and education outcomes, higher levels of poverty and a higher risk of homelessness than others in Canadian society, and there are a disproportionate number of Aboriginal people in the prison system and child welfare system.
The loss of traditional beliefs and ways of life, she indicated, have contributed to these negative outcomes. Returning to those teachings can get people back on track.
“They remind us of our culture, our identity,” she said. “They are teachings to live by.”
Culture, she added, is good medicine, a form of healing that helps restore personal balance and betters our lives.
About 80 people are expected at the conference. Register by contacting [email protected], or call 519-836-1110, ext. 222. Lunch will be provided.
The conference is supported financially by Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network.
